


nowhere to run (but to me)

by weasleytook



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, POV Alternating, Post-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:23:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5508104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleytook/pseuds/weasleytook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>But what if that's not how their story ended?</p><p>(Post Series Finale)</p>
            </blockquote>





	nowhere to run (but to me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stellatundra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellatundra/gifts).



> I hope this is a worthy happy ending for you. (And me, and all of us who didn't get what we wanted.) Happy Yuletide to you!

_Him_  

 

Nolan never believed in ghosts, not the kind that rattle your light fixtures and move your furniture around. But, since Emily has gone, he’s haunted. He can’t seem to go anywhere without being reminded of her. 

He thought staying behind, running the beach club, was a good idea. But he should have gone somewhere else, any place that didn't remind him of Emily would have worked.

There is no place on earth where he can run away from regret. He could have taken a chance, told her how he really feels, but then there was Jack, _always_ Jack, and all he wanted was for her to be happy. 

She writes e-mails, polite and perfunctory, little things about their travels, about Carl and Jack. He thinks she sounds happy and hopes that he’s right.

But he misses the sound of her voice and wonders why she never calls.

 

_Her_

 

Emily doesn’t call, because she doesn’t want to hear his voice, doesn’t want to miss him and most of all, doesn’t want him to know how scared she is that she made the wrong choice. 

When she left there, she was happy, no longer the lost and angry little girl hellbent on destruction. Jack was what she had wanted, or what she _thought_  she needed. But six months in to their marriage and none of it feels right. It isn't his fault, it's not her fault either, it just feels wrong.

He calls her Amanda, she had thought she needed that too, but that name had belonged to another girl for so long and it made Emily feel like she was living the life Amanda should have lived, not her own.

She knows that Jack feels it too, that when he looks at Carl he sees her, but neither of them talk about it and that makes it even worse. 

Emily doesn’t call because she’s afraid Nolan will hear how unhappy she is just by the sound of her voice.

 

_Them_

 

“Ems.”

It rolls right off his tongue like no time has passed between them. He makes the first move by calling her, and in her heart it's almost like she willed it to happen, because God knows, she couldn't have been the one to break the silence.

“This – this is a surprise.”

“So you do speak?” 

“Nolan –“

She stops because she doesn’t know what to say and hears him exhale softly. “It’s okay. You didn’t call me, I didn’t call you, I guess it was a mutual thing.”

“I’m sorry.” Apologies were never her thing, but this one comes easy.

“So am I.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“No.” He’s honest. “Are you?”

“Yes.” She lies.

Nolan laughs, so softly that she can barely hear it, and even though it’s not meant to be funny, she’s missed the sound of it. “You’re lying.”

“I hate that you know that.”

There’s a long pause and he hears a sniff from Emily’s side of the call, “I don’t know what to do next.”

“Come home.”

“To the Hamptons? Not hardly.”

He wants to tell her everything he should have told her a long time ago, but not like this, so instead he answers, “No, come home to _me_.”

 

_Us_

 

He lets her pick the place. She chooses Oslo because it’s a place she’s never been. She goes to the hotel bar and starts to order an expensive wine before remembering she’s not playing a part anymore. 

“Scotch, please.” She says with a smile. It’s not what Emily Thorne would have ordered, but it’s what _she_ wants. 

She takes a drink, feeling that comforting burn travel to her gut. He arrives just a moment later, taking the seat next to her. “So, you’re a straight scotch kind of woman?”

“I might be. Time will tell.”

Emily finally looks at him, and it’s not the scotch making her warm now. It’s the comfort of him, looking just as she pictured him every day that she was gone. She grins at him and continues, “I guess I finally get to figure out who I am. Away from the Graysons, and my dad, and…”

“Jack.”

“He took it better than I expected, said he saw it coming all along, just didn’t want to admit it. He took Carl to California to be near his mother. It was right. For both of us.”

“Did you tell him where you were going?”

“No. And – I don’t really want to talk about Jack anymore.”

Nolan nods and flags down the bartender to get his own drink. He thought seeing her again would be weird, but it’s not. The problem is they didn’t discuss intentions, just place and time. He thinks about downing his entire drink to get the courage to say what he should have said years ago, but he doesn’t do it. He doesn’t even think about what he says next, “What are we doing here?”

“I missed you. Missed us.”

“I did too. But – I need you to know that – all this time –“

“I know.”

He looks at her suspiciously, because _how_ could she know. “Know what?”

She laughs, and it’s not the way her old self would have laughed, all hard edges and bitterness, it’s soft and musical. “I know how you feel about me. I may have been wrapped up in my own drama, but I think I’ve always known. I just –“

She pauses suddenly and takes another drink of her scotch, so Nolan, ever unsure, prompts her, “Knew you could never feel the same?”

“No, no, I just – have a bad habit of obliterating every guy that gets in my path romantically. And, I couldn’t do that to you. So I picked what I thought was the safe choice and then destroyed that too.”

“You didn’t destroy anything. This time.”

He makes sure to wink at her so she knows he’s being playful, and it makes her laugh again. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“You really have to ask that?”

She knew the answer. Because of Daniel, and Aiden, and Jack. Mostly Jack. And because of her, because maybe she would have rejected him, she probably would have, she thinks to herself. She wasn’t ready for that, for something real. Not then.

“So what do we do now?”

Nolan is tired of dancing around it with words, so he leans in so close that his lips are just a breath away from hers. He knows her too well and he knows that if she doesn’t want this, she’d take this moment to push him away. She doesn’t move so he kisses her. It’s soft and easy, just testing the waters, but it feels right.

When he backs away from her, she blushes and Nolan is so surprised at this, he nearly falls off his barstool. “Are you blushing?”

Her head shakes, but he knows what he saw. Everything has suddenly changed between them, and Nolan swears even the air feels different.

This time she kisses him, too briefly for his taste, but he’ll take what he can get. She grabs his hand and smiles at him. “Seriously, what _do_ we do now?”

“We’re young and rich, so whatever the hell we want.” He squeezes her hand gently and she laughs.

Every moment of her life has been part of a plan, even being with Jack felt like an obligation, an end goal. But all of that is gone, and Nolan is no obligation, he’s just the person she wants by her side and for the first time, her life is so beautifully uncomplicated.


End file.
